For more than a decade, Nelson researched and studied the men’s lives and careers. Then he turned them into fine art, painted for a book he illustrated and wrote called “We Are The Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball,” published in 2008.

“This is really a great story about people who faced discrimination during one of the worst examples of segregation in America,” Nelson said, “but they took the love of playing baseball ... and changed history.”

The name of the book was inspired by a quote from Rube Foster, organizer of the Negro National League.

IF YOU GO

• What: "We are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball"

• When: Thursday through March 13

• Where: Muskegon Museum of Art, 296 W. Webster

• Admission: Adults, $5; Children 17 and younger, students and members, free. Admission is always free to the public on Thursdays

“We are the ship, all else the sea,” Foster said when announcing the new league.

Thirty-three of Nelson’s paintings — and a handful of preliminary sketches — make up an exhibit also called “We Are The Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball” that will open Thursday at the Muskegon Museum of Art in downtown Muskegon. This is the exhibit’s only stop in Michigan.

Nelson, who lives in San Diego, will speak during the opening reception about what he learned, as an artist and man, during the project.

“It’s a great lesson in not giving up, no matter what your circumstances,” Nelson said. “It’s about being excellent.”

Barred from playing in the all-white Major League Baseball, African-American baseball players formed their own league from the 1920s until 1947 when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier — he was the first African-American to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Nelson painted the portraits of Robinson and the others, including entire teams, but he

This is an oil-on-canvas painting of Josh Gibson.

also set the scene for his viewers, painting games in progress, umpires at work and the fans who supported them.

Nelson said he knew from the beginning that he had to “present the history” of Negro League baseball in “an epic manner.”

“They did so much for those who have followed them ... us, the next generation,” he said.

The exhibit is “a perfect fit” for the art museum, says executive director Judith Hayner. Each year, the museum hosts a show that brings in original art from a book. With “We Are A Ship,” there is “a perfect convergence of art, history and social justice,” she said.

“It’s very powerful,” Hayner added. “Very, very powerful.”

The “We Are The Ship” project, with its artwork, guest speakers and two-month slate of events cost $45,000 to bring into Muskegon. The price tag makes it among the most expensive exhibits ever shown at the museum, Hayner said.

“When we looked at everything ... the cost, and what it could do for this community ... really, we asked ourselves: Why would we not do this?” she said.

Hayner and the staff have worked for two years on the project, which was first brought to her attention by Joseph Schulze, the former superintendent of Muskegon Public Schools.

“He came to me one day with this book in his hand and said: We have to do something with this,” Hayner said. “It was absolutely amazing.”

This Nelson painting is called "Safe at Home." It's part of a collection of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo.

“We Are The Ship” was a New York Times bestseller and received the Coretta Scott King Author Award, among other honors.

Nelson is currently finishing a book on American history which he is both writing and illustrating. It is told through the eyes of an elder African-American griot — or historian — who “tells the story of America,” Nelson said.

He has written or illustrated at least 20 other books, including “Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom,” for which Nelson won a Coretta Scott Kind Illustrator Award, a Caldecott Honor and an NAACP Image Award.

But the “We Are The Ship” exhibit at the art museum is not just paintings on a wall, or even words on a paper. For the next two months, the museum will host panel discussions on baseball and civil rights, baseball memorabilia gatherings, a lunchtime baseball film series, programs for students and Saturday activities for families — and appearances by several men who played during the last days of Negro League baseball.

No doubt the star will be Cecil Kaiser of Detroit, a former pitcher who played alongside the likes of Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson.

“We Are The Ship” will open Thursday not just to music by the Vincent Hayes Project and the usual gala that surrounds the first nights of most art shows. Kaiser will also be in the house.

Contributed photoThis is a photograph of Kadir Nelson painting in his studio.

At 95 years old, Kaiser is the oldest living member of the Negro League. A pitcher with the Detroit Stars, Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords, Kaiser ended his career in baseball playing for the Detroit Industrial League from 1952 to 1957.

Known for his assortment of off-speed breaking pitches, Kaiser — who only stood 5-foot-6-inches tall and weighed 165 pounds — had two nicknames. The first: “Minute Man.”

“Because it only took him a minute to get his opponent out,” said Louis Manley Jr. of Detroit, who is the cofounder of the Michigan Chapter of Negro League Players.

The other nickname: “Aspirin Tablet Man.”

“I asked him why,” Manley said,” and he said: Because I only threw aspirin tablets at them.”

Kaiser, who earned $700 a month during his best salary year in 1947, is typical of so many players who could have played Major League Baseball had baseball not been racially segregated for so many years in the United States.

“I’m so glad Muskegon is having this exhibit,” Manley said. This is a time in history that’s been lost and been covered up, to a certain extent.”

He described Kaiser as “very qualified and very, very humble.”

“I’m telling you, these guys are living legends,” Manley said. “All they wanted to do is play baseball ... and in (segregated) conditions, well, we wouldn’t put up with 5 percent of what they had to every day.”

Manley, who will return Feb. 26 with former Negro League players Melvin Duncan and Eugene Johnson, has been a baseball memorabilia collector for 20 years, concentrating on the lesser-known Negro Leagues.

"Kansas City Dugout" is from a collection of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

“You know what this is? It’s a great part of American history,” Manley said. “This is our heritage. We have to take every opportunity to learn about these guys.”

The presenting sponsor of “We Are The Ship” is Frontier Communications. Additional major support is provided by Thomas Tuttle, Warner Norcross and Judd and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

The exhibition’s national tour was developed by Smith Kramer Fine Arts Services in Kansas City, Mo. After its Muskegon appearance, “We Are The Ship” will travel to art museums in Texas and Indiana.

Related events

• Thursday: 2 p.m., Autographed Memorabilia Sale. Louis Manley Jr. will have quality Negro League autographed memorabilia available for sale. A portion of the sales will support the MMA.

"East-West All-Stars" is another oil on canvas by Kadir Nelson.

• Friday: Unity breakfast at Muskegon Community College with Kadir Nelson. Call 724-3172 for reservation and information. Tickets for sale in MMA gift shop.

• Jan. 27: 7 p.m.,“Shadowland,” a living history performance by Bobby Norfolk.